Inquisition: The Persecution and Prosecution of The Reverend Sun Myung Moon - Contents

Contents

Inquisition relates the story of Moon's life from his childhood in Korea but mainly focuses on the opposition he encountered in the United States after moving there in the 1970s and being active in religious, social, and political activism. Sherwood mentions opposition by the news media, major Christian denominations, and members of the government including Representative Donald Fraser and Senator Bob Dole. Sherwood characterizes this opposition as unfair, dishonest, and mean-spirited. He concludes that the federal prosecution of Moon on tax charges was unjust, citing the court's refusal to allow Moon's fellow defendant Takeru Kamiyama to provide his own translator, its refusal to allow the two men a bench trial rather than a jury trial, possible tainting of the jury, and the unusual length of Moon's sentence, 18 months, for a tax case. He also mentions that Moon could have avoided the trial if he had remained outside of the United States.

Sherwood sums up his views by writing:

The Unification Church, its leaders and followers were and continue to be the victims of the worst kind of religious prejudice and racial bigotry this country has witnessed in over a century. Moreover, virtually every institution we as Americans hold sacred the Congress, the courts, law enforcement agencies, the press, even the U.S. Constitution itself was prostituted in a malicious, oftentimes brutal manner, as part of a determined effort to wipe out this small but expanding religious movement.

The book reveals some circumstances of the Court and the events that preceded the court:

• Investigation preceded by a series of utterly bizarre statements, such as a complaint from a citizen of New York, registered by FBI agent, mentioning also the name of deprogrammer Ted Patrick, stated that she is supposedly haunted by "Moonies", who have allegedly aimed Senators Carl Albert and Edward Kennedy with girls in miniskirts, and had thus supposedly to gain influence over the government, through mind-control (brainwashing). The FBI did not investigate such complaints, since there was no evidence of criminal conduct.
• James Sheeran, a former agent of FBI, and major political figure in New Jersey, whose three daughters became members of the Unification Church, with his wife and son broke by force into the training center of the Unification Church in Tarrytown, NewYork state. Charges of third-grade assault was raised by both sides and additionaly charges against Sheeran from a second-grade violent intrusion. The charges were later dropped on both sides. FBI memo reflected that complaints by statement: "There is no evidence of a criminal violation of the laws of the State of New York. ... No unlawful or criminal offense happened". Sheeran later described this in an interview for magazine People as his daughters was allegedly brainwashed and he was allegedly attacked by a horde semi-crazy "Moonies". The result was that the FBI began to collect information concerning the Unification Church trough LEGATs (FBI delegates at U.S. embassies worldwide).